


It's Better To Be Flexible

by Solangelo_Infection332



Category: Stretch Armstrong and the Flex Fighters (Cartoon)
Genre: Alpha Jake Armstrong, Alpha Jonathan Rook, Alpha Malcolm Kane, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Beta Ricardo Perez, Omega Nathan Park, Superheroes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-18
Updated: 2018-12-01
Packaged: 2019-05-08 09:26:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14691237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Solangelo_Infection332/pseuds/Solangelo_Infection332
Summary: Jake Armstrong was a normal teenaged Alpha until a new Beta shows up at school. Thanks to a parkour accident that led to some flexible superpowers Jake and his childhood friend Nathan, along with the new kid Ricardo, must save Charter City from villians powered by Flexarium. With the help of their sponsor Jonathan Rook, the CEO and founder of Rook Unlimited, will they be able to take down the evil mastermind behind the attacks?





	1. I Told You Parkour Is Dangerous

**Author's Note:**

> This show is awesome and needs more fics.

The alarm goes off at 6:25 am like every other morning at the Armstrong house. The young Alpha turns over and turns it off, burying his face deeper into his pillow. His computer screen lights up as his father checks in on him. “Time to catch the worm, son! You weren’t still sleeping were you?”

The boy jumps up and throws his blankets at the end of his bed. He scratches his head with a nervous chuckle, “Uh… of course not dad! I was uh… just mentally planning my day..?”

“Great!” His father beams, “I’m sending this morning’s before-school schedule to your tablet now. Remember, rigid structure bears great rewards. Go get ‘em!”

Jake ignores his father signing off to see what the man had planned for him that day. Violin practice, wind sprints, school, swimming, tutoring, chello, homework, dinner and then bed. Jake groans at the second thing on the list. “Wind sprints today?”

Jake doesn’t bother getting dressed yet, going out into the living room to watch the news while he practices the violin and eats an apple for breakfast, the only thing he’s really got time to eat this early. By 6:40 he’s dressed and at the maglev stop, waiting for the train to take him to school for his early morning exercises. The same ad was on all the TVs on the train; the same one that was everywhere in the city. Jake smiles as he watches it again for the hundredth time, “Welcome to Charter City. Once an urban blight, now the fastest growing metropolis in the world. A high tech hub, Charter City is headquarters to Rook Unlimited…”

He watches the ad twice before it the train comes to a stop in front of the Academy of Future Leadership, his high school. He gets off at the train stop and walks half a block to the front doors. Once inside he goes to the locker room and grabs his first pair of gym clothes, changing before heading out to the football/track field. At 7:30 he’s heading back inside to take a quick shower and put on his school uniform. He combs his hair and straightens his tie in the mirror, then heads outside to wait for his best friend, Nathan. He takes the protein shake out of his bag and sips it between yawns, trying not to fall asleep before school officially starts for the day.

…………………………

Nathan’s startled awake like every morning, with his little brother jumping onto his bed from his bunk as soon as the alarm goes off at 7:00 am, “What?! WHY?! Hey don’t eat all the cereal again!”

He gets up with a groan and grabs his bathroom supplies, going out in the hall to find a line forming. His oldest brother must be in there, checking himself out in the mirror. He rest against the wall and waits his turn; being one of three Omegas in a family of ten was a struggle, especially when you’re the middle child. At least it wasn’t his heat week. By the time he’s done with his shower, a cold one because of course everyone wanted hot water, the others are down stairs eating breakfast. He grabs a clean bowl and kisses his mom’s cheek, smiling at one of the twins when he gives him the box of cereal. He sighs when he tries to pour some into his bowl and finds the box empty, picking up his bowl and heading to the fridge. He takes the last egg and some milk and mixes it together before putting it in the microwave. He adds eggs on the grocery list on the fridge and continues getting ready.

After breakfast he goes to his room and changes into his uniform while the others are busy. Even though his brothers were family it was still weird to change in front of them, even weirder since he presented as an Omega. It takes him forever to find any of his shoes in the family pile in the living room and even then they was two different colors. He groans and puts them on anyway or else he’d be late for the bus. 

“Grandpa, did you see where my bag went?” Nathan finds his school books on the coffee table by the couch but no bag, “Mom? Dad? Has anyone seen my bag?”

“One of your brother’s must have taken it again.” His grandpa laughs, handing him a plastic bag, “This will do for today. Give me them and fix your tie. Don’t want to be late, yes?”

“Seriously?” Nathan groans, “It’s my bag, it still has some of my stuff in it, like my botany book. I’ll see if Jake will share his… again. How do you tie this thing?!”

His grandpa just laughs and fixes it while the Omega finishes tying his shoes, then grabs his plastic bag with his books and runs out the door with a quick farewell. He gets on the bus and tries to ignore the other kids laughing at him, just wanting to get to school to get the day over with.

When he finally makes it to school he greets his best friend as Jake yawns and tries to not fall asleep where he was standing. “You look a little more zombie-ish than usual, Jake. Kettlebell morning huh?”

“No Nathan, wind sprints.” They head inside. “My dad insists this schedule’s good for me.”

“Hey at least your books aren’t in a plastic bag. This is what happens when one of your dozen siblings takes your backpack. Again. Which reminds me that we’ll need to share the botany book if you don’t mind.” The Alpha laughs at his friend. 

“I thought you only had six other brothers and sisters?”

“Maybe.” Nathan smiles, “I don’t know...I-I lost count.”

“Mr. Armstrong!” The two turn to see their principal standing in front of them. “Forget something?”

“I don’t think so, principal Wilson.”

“Well then it must of been a different Jake Armstrong that volunteered to give tours to new students.”

“There’s a tour today?” At the principal’s look the younger Alpha backtracks, “And I’d love to do that… right now.” 

Nathan groans when his plastic bag rips and spills his books everywhere. Jake just laughs and hands him his own bag. “Here. I’ll meet up with you later but you can hold onto that for me while I give the new kid the tour.”

“Thanks Jake.” Nathan whispers with a smile. He ignores the other kids that laugh at him as he puts his books in the Alpha’s bag and throws it over his shoulder. “I’ll take notes for you.”

“While I understand your need to take care of your Omega Mr. Armstrong, we do need to get moving.” Principal Wilson starts walking away, towards his office. 

Nathan and Jake share an eye roll and head in different directions. Jake follows the principal and clears his throat, “Uh Sir. I don’t mean to be disrespectful but me and Nathan are just friends, he’s not my Omega and quite frankly it’s…”

“Go ahead Mr. Armstrong. You won’t get in trouble about this at least.” The topic of Mating had always been one that could be taken two ways and the principal prefered it when people didn’t beat around the bush with it, least it mess with the school or students in any way, shape, or form.

“Yes Sir.” Jake takes a deep breath, “It’s kind of… annoying. That everyone thinks Nathan has to be my Omega just for us to hang out. We’ve been friends since we were kids; that didn’t change our relationship when we presented.”

“Well Jake,” Mr. Wilson smiles, “This is the time most start looking for a partner, even if they aren’t planning to bond. It’s easy for people to assume, especially in high school. It will go away in a few years or when one of you decides to look into a bond with someone else. Just focus on your studies, yes?”

“Yes Sir.” Jake smiles. When they get to the office the Alphas sit and wait for the new student to show up, talking about all of Jake’s after school activities and his grades. The wait fifteen minutes before a large male comes running around the corner and passes the doorway, only to turn around. He smirks and goes inside the office. 

Jake takes in his appearance and almost winces. While the uniform isn’t mandatory past the jacket with the school’s crest on it, to not wear the full thing wasn’t something most students did. The new guy was wearing a plain white shirt under a red hoodie and jeans with red sneakers. The jacket was there but the sleeves were rolled up passed the guy’s elbows and tucked under the hoodie sleeves. When he gets in the door he rest one arm on the door frame and laughs. “This is the main office right? I can always tell cause it’s the place all the other students avoid.”

He comes in further and Jake notices his dark brown dreads that stick up and back like it was styled that way, and blue eyes. He also picks up the neutral Beta smell. The guy crosses his arms and smirks again, “I’m Ricardo Perez.”

“And you’re late. On your first day.” Principal Wilson stands up, gesturing for Jake to do the same. 

“By like 15 minutes.” Ricardo scoffs, “There are, like, 75,000 minutes in a school year.”

“And at the Academy of Future Leadership every minute counts. I’m sure Jake will point that out on the tour, he’s one of our top students.” Jake stands up and waits for Ricardo to size him up like everyone does; one of the many perks of being a smaller Alpha. “And he’s never late.”

“Jake Armstrong.” The Alpha holds out his hand and waits for Ricardo to shake it. “We’ll start the tour at the front of the school if you don’t mind. Good day Principal Wilson.” 

Jake nods at the man before leading the Beta out of the office. He explains a few of the medals in the display cases and what they’re for between explaining the history of the Academy. Ricardo stays quiet until Jake asks if he has any questions and the Beta nods at the lockers, “Yeah. Are those just for show cause I don’t see any locks. How do you keep your stuff safe?”

“Well I can show you. Do you know your locker number?” When Ricardo repeats it, Jake leads them to the right one. He instruction the Beta to place his thumb on the metal screen next to the handle and watches Ricardo’s face when the door opens with a small laugh, “Thumbprint recognition. The only one with access to your locker is yourself and Principal Wilson. Of course they can be hacked but doing so would mean expulsion and a trip to the cops, so no one really bothers.”

“Fancy locks, psht.” Ricardo huffs and closes the locker, turning to the small Alpha, “My parents move a lot. I’ve been to five schools in three towns in two years. Spoiler alert. Under the paint job, all schools are exactly the same.”

“Not the AFL.” Jake laughs, leading them outside where some of the other students were, “Rook Unlimited sponsors us. We have the best science labs, best theater.”

“Unimpressed. I can read this school like an e-book. Watch this.” Ricardo smirks again and starts to point at each group as they pass them, “Jocks. They’re on top, always. Then it’s survival of the fittest; cheerleaders rule over the drama geeks, who try to ignore the slackers. Last and also least the science nerds. Nailed it.”

“Well if I had to grade your theory… you failed.” Jake smiles as Alfonso puts his homemade robot on the ground. They watch as the robot is driven over to the jocks via remote and ties one of the football players shoes together. When he goes to walk away he trips, causing everyone to laugh. One of the cheerleaders gives Alfonso a high five and heads over to the ‘slackers’, kissing her boyfriend on the cheek and then talking with some of the drama geeks about this new show they were binge watching together. 

Ricardo watches everything with a slack jaw and wide eyes. Jake smiles and leads him inside for their next class, botany. “This school? Not always so easy to figure out.”

The teacher was already passing out graded test when they walk in. Jake goes to his seat next to Nathan and Ricardo takes the seat on the other side of him. The teacher looks up, “Thank you for joining us Mr. Armstrong, and bring the new student with you as well. Mr. Park, B minus. Your brothers were brilliant at botany. I figured your family had an inherent understanding of the plant world. But… oh, well.”

He gives Jake his test, “Mr. Armstrong, A plus.”

Ricardo coughs, “Nerd.”

The teacher turns to him, “And you must be Mr. Perez. I’ve checked your transfer grades, and I must say I’m more than a little surprised the Academy accepted you.”

Nathan snorts behind his hand and Jake smiles, coughing, “Burn.”

“So you can catch up, I’m assigning you a group report with Mr. Armstrong and Mr. Park here.” The teacher smiles at the boys, and they knew it was because of their little return dig at Ricardo, “We wouldn’t want to ‘leaf’ you behind. Ha! Botany joke.”

The three of them don’t talk again until after class when Jake introduces Ricado to Nathan. The Omega hands Jake his botany book and the notes he’d taken for him in their other classes. “I also stopped by your other classes to get your homework assignments for you since you were doing the tour.”

“How many good Omega comments you get today?” Jake laughs, scanning the paper. Ricardo just stands next to them and watches their exchange.

“Four of your teachers and like six girls.” Nathan bangs his head against the locker loud enough to make the Beta jump. His voice cracks when he rubs his head, “Why does everyone think I’m your’s? Like seriously if I hear one more person say, ‘Oh your such a good Mate picking up your Alpha’s work for him’, or something similar I’m… I’m…”

“Not going to do anything but blush and then come complain to me or your grandpa?” Jake smiles. 

Nathan scowls and punches the Alpha’s shoulder, “You wound me, Jake. Really, I thought we were friends.”

“Are you guys Mated or…?” Ricardo asks.

“NO!” Nathan runs his hands through his hair, “Weren’t you listening?! Wait I’m sorry, your new, right. Uh hi, I’m Nathan Park; Jake’s best friend and according to the student body, our parents and that cute girl at the bakery we go to for coffee sometimes, I’m also his Mate. Because apparently our friendship wasn’t supposed to last past us presenting, without turning into a Courtship. Heaven forbid an Alpha and an Omega be friends.”

“It’s a sore point for him if you couldn’t already tell.” Jake tells the Beta, “But no, we’re not Mated. And unless something happens and Nathan becomes a billionaire, I don’t think we ever will be.”

“Why me?” Nathan raises an eyebrow. 

“Because then I don’t have to do this anymore if I Mate you for your money.” Jake hands over his tablet with his schedule for after school. 

“Your dad added linguistics and piano again?” Ricardo looks at the schedule over Nathan’s shoulder. 

“What the hell?” The Beta stutters.

“Yeah, my swimming coach canceled so that would have meant two hour unscheduled. You’d think hell froze over if there was even one minute of free time in my day when it comes to my dad.” Jake puts the tablet back in his bag.

“Well technically there are nine circles of hell and one of them is frozen so…”

"Not the point Nathan.” The Alpha laughs. “My dad has tutoring planned in today too so we can use that time frame to do our botany project. I’ll see you guys at my place?”

“Sure if I knew where I was going.” Ricardo snorts, “I’m new here, remember?”

“Right. Here.” Jake pulls out a piece of paper from his notebook and scribbles down his address. “I should be done by about 5 tonight.”  
“So meet at your place at 5:17?”

“Yep. Unless the train is late, then it’ll be 5:43. But then we’ll only have 56 minute to do the report before I have to start the next thing on the list.”

“You too are weird.” Ricardo looks at the two of them. “How do you have the train times down like that?”

“A lot of practice.” Nathan snorts, gathering the last of his books and putting the rest of it in his locker. “And thanks again for letting me borrow your bag today Jake. Hopefully when I get home one of the demons would have put mine back.”

“No problem.” Jake waves as he makes his way down the hall, “See you guys later.”

………………………………………………………..

“Sooooo…. What is the phylum?” Jake takes off his tie, “Cycadophyta or Ginkgophyta?”

“Are you playing video games?!” Nathan glares at Ricardo. 

“Trying to.” The Beta barely glances at the other two before turning back to his tablet. “If you guys would stop distracting me with all this botany talk.”

“Hello?!” Jake shakes his own tablet, a document that him and Nathan were going over pulled up, “I only have 15 minutes left.”

“Not my problem you’re some big overachiever cause your dad writes out a play by play for you everyday. I’d burn out after one day as you. Actually a half-day; no an hour.”

“Oh, yeah, his dad? Very encouraging.” Nathan shrugs at the glare Jake sends him with a laugh. “He wants him to make the most of every moment.”

“I’m not a real doctor, but let me prescribe a little medicine called, ‘Fun’. Ever hear of it?” Ricardo smirks.

“Well there is something I love to do, but I just haven’t had time.” Jake smiles in Nathan’s direction.

The Omega jumps off the couch in a panic, “Not parkour. We will definitely break our faces.”

“Parkour?” The Beta stands up, “Don’t know what that is, but if Nathan thinks it’s too dangerous then we need to do it right now.”

“This report’s not gonna write itself.” Jake hesitants. “But maybe we could try being a little flexible, huh?”

Nathan glares at the Alpha, a slight rumble coming from his chest. Jake turns to his best friend. “Oh come on. I never get to do this anymore. Plus you like it too, no matter what you say.”

The Omega groans, “Fine.”

Jake and Ricardo high five and the three teens head out. They make it to the alley between Jake’s apartment building and the next before Ricardo asks what parkour was. Jake smiles, “Watch this.”

The Alpha starts climbing up the drain pipe until he gets halfway up before flipping onto someone’s balcony. He then gets up on the railing and jumps over to the next building, grabbing a window edge and pulling himself up. The two on the ground watch as he makes his way to the roof using handhelds he finds along the way, passing between buildings as needed. When he gets to another balcony right above the roof of the next building he climbs onto the railing again and jumps, catching the railing on the roof and hopping over it. Then he looks down at his friends, 12 stories below, and waves at them.

“Holy shit.” Ricardo gasps.

“He likes to show off a little.” Nathan smiles. He jumps up and catches the first window ledge, pulling himself up and then grabbing the next. “This takes a bit more time but it’s a little easier. There’s stairs if you don’t feel comfortable climbing up this way.”

The Beta watches the Omega climb each window ledge with ease until he gets to the one right under the roof. There was a large overhang that made it impossible to climb just by jumping from the window up. Nathan turns around enough to kick a flag pole that was hanging there, then turns around completely to jump to it.

“Oh SHIT!” Ricardo tries to get under the Omega when he’s only able to grab it with one hand, the other slipping off by his fingertips. The Beta had just met these guys but he really didn’t want to watch one fall 12 stories to his death. 

Nathan hears Ricardo from where he was hanging and almost laughs while adjusting his grip to two hands and pulling himself up, slipping his legs between his arms and sitting on the pole. He waves down at the Beta, “Do you want to take the stairs or are you going to parkour it up here?!”

“You guys are insane!” The Beta laughs. He climbs up the windows the way Nathan did until he’s at the last window and looking over his shoulder while Nathan explains how to get to the flagpole.

“Kick it first to make sure it’s not loose, then turn around and grab it. If you miss it with one hand DO NOT PANIC. That is a sure way to fall.” The Beta watches Nathan stand up on the pole using the wall as support before climbing onto the roof. He does as instructed and pulls himself up to a squat on the pole. “Ok now you stand up and grab the rails, then pull yourself over.”

Once he’s on the roof he turns around and looks down, laughing, “That was awesome!”

“So do we keep going or head back inside to finish the report?” Jake smirks, already heading to the other side of the roof.

“Keep going.” Ricardo runs after him, “Definitely keep going.”

“Let’s keep in mind that I need to be home before midnight because it is a school night.” Nathan passes both of them and jumps to the next roof, rolling to control his fall. The two grin and follow him, Jake taking the lead to show Ricardo the best paths to take. They take turns showing and explaining where to grab and jump for the Beta and by nightfall they were miles away from Jake’s apartment. 

They jump from a higher roof onto a glass one, slowing down so they don’t slide or break the glass. Jake does a flip over one of the concrete barriers and loses his balance. Nathan and Ricardo grab him to keep him on his feet and the skylight opens, causing them to fall into the warehouse on top of some metal containers still hooked up to a forklift. They try to climb down without knocking everything off and fall into the driver’s seat. Ricardo laughs.

“See? Nothing to worry about.” Nathan glares at the Beta from under the pile and tries to push them off, accidently hitting a lever and setting the thing in motion. The three of them tumble off as the forklift drives into another one, knocking all the containers off both of them. They go in every direction but one manages to hit another forklift by the door. The containers knock against each other and one of them opens, a wave of electric blue liquid slime, to cover over half the warehouse. Including Jake, Nathan and Ricardo. 

“You guys ok?” Jake looks at his friends, watching them get up and checking to see if they were hurt anywhere. 

“Other than being covered in three gallons of weird slime, I’m awesome. Nathan?” Ricardo wipes some slime off his cheek. 

Nathan coughs, blue slime and puke covering his shoes and clothes, “Why in the mouth?! WHY?!”

“Let’s get out of here guys.” Jake leads them up onto the catwalk.

“We are going straight to prison. What did I tell you Jake; parkour only gets us in trouble. It always gets us in trouble; first your dad and now Rook Unlimited. Nothing good ever comes from parkour!” Nathan’s voice cracks as he whimpers.

“Calm down.” Jake rumbles, trying to sooth the distressed Omega.

“And we’re not going to get in trouble ‘cause no one knows we’re here.” Ricardo huffs, “So chill out man.”

The door on the ground floor is kicked open and men and women in uniforms come in with plasma guns pointed at the three boys. An Alpha in a white suit follows them in, “Rook security, hands up! NOW!”

The three boys throw their hands up at the Alpha Voice, Jake’s arms extending to the ceiling and coming back down. The three gasps, echoed by the security team on the ground. Jake looks at his friends over his shoulder, “Did you just see that?!”

“Saw it. Don’t believe it.” Nathan steps forward, reaching for the Alpha’s arm, “Are you hurt?!”

“I don’t feel anything broken but…”

“Never do that again, please.”

“Do that again, please.” Ricardo points at the guns still pointed at them, “Like pronto.”

Jake throws his arms forward like he was reaching for the skylight. The other two grab onto him, ready to get out of there, but his arms fall short and come back to hit them in the face. It throws them off balance and they fall over the railing to the ground below, Jake taking hold of the railing to try to stop all three of them from hitting the ground. Hi arm extends from the catwalk to the ground and slingshots them into the air.

“Don’t let them get away!” The Alpha’s Voice compels the others to move; sending everyone outside to follow the three boys.

Jake and his friends hit the roof and roll to a stop, Nathan looking at his friend in shock, “Could you always do that?”

“Of course I couldn’t?!”

“Uh I’m no scientist, but that tidal wave of gloop might have something to do with it.” Ricardo swipes his hands through his hair and pulls out some of the goo.

“UH!” Nathan screams, wiping off his tongue, “IT WAS IN MY MOUTH!”

Behind them the security team uses grappling hooks to get on the roof. As the first ones latch onto the edge of the building, Jake grabs his friends, “RUN!”

“No time to test our hypothesises.”

“Hypothesises isn’t a word!”

“Then what’s the plural of hypothesis?”

“Hypotheses!”

“Guys!” Ricardo interrupts as they get off the roof and sprint down the street. “Now is not the time to geek out! Run!”

They run past a man coming out of a laundry mat and each one takes a piece of clothing to cover their faces. Jake turns around as the run to shout back at the man, “Can we borrow these?!”

“This is a t-shirt right?” Nathan asks, a pair of boxers over his head, “Cause it doesn’t feel like a t-shirt.”

“Totally a t-shirt bro.” Ricardo and Jake speed up so the Omega can’t see them laugh. The Rook security was right behind them so Jake leads them down a side street and into an alley. The security car was barely able to fit and the alley floods with Rook’s men. Ricardo looks back to see if they were still being followed and misses a step. He stumbles and tries to catch himself with his other foot, which blows up to be bigger than a car. He knocks over a dumpster like it was a tin can, the force of the step sending him high into the air. He stretches his arm out to catch himself from face planting into the concrete and is pushed back into the air when his hand blows up too. A small tumble and he was back on his feet on the ground.

“What the hell?!” The Beta pants while staring at his body, shaken.

“Just go with it for now!” Jake pushes him to keep running as the sirens get louder.

“Just go with it?!” Ricardo laughs, “I just blew up like a balloon!”

“We’ll figure it out together!” Jake pulls Nathan with them, “After we get out of this!”

They turn down another alley and find a dead end just as the Rook men catch up to them. Nathan stares at the wall in front of them and sobs, “Oh great. They’ll send me to jail and you guys to a freak show. FOR FREAKS!”

Jake and Ricardo could smell the distress coming from the Omega clouding the alley, causing some of the Rook security guards to sniff the air and let out calming croons without meaning to. The Alpha in the white suit seem to knock some sense into them again cause they all had their plasma guns turned on the boys before they could do anything. 

“No one’s going to jail, come on.” Jake grabs both of their arms and holds them high, jumping back into a squatting position to stretch his arms. He jumps, pulling the two of them with him. All three make it to the roof ledge of the building but Nathan loses his grip and falls back. Jake tries to reach for him with a cry of fear. “Nathan!” 

The Omega yelps as he falls, throwing his arms out on instinct. He can feel his skin pull taunt, like he’d been exercising while sunburnt, and turns over while pulling his feet together, gliding over the heads of the Rook men and up into the air above the buildings. The skin from his arms, sides, and legs were stretched out in a way that reminded him of a sugar glider or a flying squirrel. 

“That did not even happen.” One of the guards gasps.

“Oh now we’re all going to a freak show.” Nathan tries not to freak out while he turns around to get back to his friends. Jake helps Ricardo over the ledge and they take off, getting as far away from Rook’s men as they can. It’s another hour before they stop next to Jake’s building.

“Incoming!” Nathan swoops over the other two and crashes by the air vent. He yanks the clothing from his head with a groan, “Ok. My body’s not supposed to work this way. We should go to the hospital, right?”

Jake helps the Omega up, scenting him lightly to check for any damage. Ricardo takes off his mask and raises an unamused eyebrow when the Alpha them turns to check him over too, pushing him away when the Alpha rumbles unhappy at the cut on his hand. He turns to Nathan, “And tell them what? We’ve come down with a bad case of the awesomeness? We should get talent agents or something; we’re superheroes!”

“We destroyed a Rook Unlimited building. Maybe we’re supervillains.” Jake shakes his head, “Either way, this stays a secret. Lay low until we figure out what happened to us. The effects of that slime might even wear off.”

“But we could make some serious bank!” The Beta exclaims. At the look both of them give him, he sighs, “Ok. Wanna be lame, that’s cool.”

“Come on, we’re going back to my house and getting your stuff.” Jake puts the towel he grabbed back over his face, “We need to check you guys over too and clean that cut.”

“Dude, chill.” Ricardo holds his hand close, “It’s a scratch.”

“Just go with it.” Nathan pats the Beta on the shoulder. They watch Jake take hold of the roof ledge and jump down. Nathan goes to put his disguise back on when he notices what it was, “You jerk faces! These are underwear!”

“Chill.” Ricardo laughs. He jumps over the ledge and expands his feet, rolling on the ground to help with the shockwave. Nathan glides down after him, hitting him with the boxers before running inside after Jake. Once inside Jake takes Ricardo into the kitchen to clean the cut while Nathan cleans up. Once the two of them leave, having thrown away the stolen clothes already, Jake sits at the kitchen table while he does his homework. He grabs a bag a chips for dinner and a glass of water. After a hour he was out of water and debating whether he could get away with using his powers to grab a water bottle off the counter across the room. With a smirk he stretches his arm, missing the bottle but grabbing an apple. He reaches for it again and grabs the teapot. He puts it back and grabs the water bottle, yanking his arm back quickly when his dad walks through the door.

“Hey Jake. You ok?” 

“Yeah just studying physics.”

“That’s my boy.” His dad puts his briefcase down, “And it looks like you still have 97 minutes for homework before bed. Way to be on schedule. You make me proud. You won’t believe the day I had. Some hooligans broke into one of our facilities and busted it up.”

“Really?” Jake clears his throat and hopes his dad didn’t notice his voice cracking, “Any idea who did it?”

His dad gets a glass of water and takes a sip. “Not sure. But who would do that? Everyone loves Rook.”

“What if it was just an accident-”

“Accident my foot. I-- Hold on.” His dad pulls his ringing cell out of his pocket, “Mark Armstrong.”

Jake watches his dad shift into his business voice; the calm and collected Alpha voice he used with all his phone calls. “A giant what? No. Let me turn it on.”

His dad turn on the news where the main story was about Jonathan Rook being attacked by a rock monster during his press conference regarding the break-in. Jake puts his tablet on mute when it rings and shows a video call for both Nathan and Ricardo. 

“Is this real?! I’ll be right in.” Jake’s dad hangs up and rushes to put his shoes back on and grab his briefcase, “This is insane. That creature came from our damaged facility. I’ve gotta go in.”

“There’s a real monster out there and you want to go back to work?” Jake gestures to the TV.

“I can help Jake.” His dad opens the door. “It’s what any responsible person would do.”

Once his dad leave Jake unmutes the tablet. Nathan pops up first. “You’re seeing this too? We’re so dead, we…. We have to confess.”  
Ricardo pops up after him, “Whoa. First rule of superhero club is we never talk about superhero club, remember?”

“That was before a giant monster exploded out of the place we destroyed.” Jake says. 

“Accidentally destroyed?”

“Accident or not, it means that taking down this creature is our responsibility. Are you with me?”


	2. No One Uses Dungeons Anymore

Ricardo and Nathan meet up with Jake back at his apartment, all three of them in sports gear and padding to cover up their identities. The Alpha hands them both a can of Scent-Dampener, to cover the smell of Beta and Omega. He takes his own can and sprays it on himself to cover the smell of Alpha. 

“We need a team name.” Ricardo laughs, “I got it! The Super-Awesomes. What do you guys think?”

“No.” Nathan shakes his head, “The Legion of Specially Gifted Individuals with Powers. We can call ourselves the LSGIP for short.”

“You’re specially gifted at horrible names.” Ricardo scowls, “That’s a mouthful even with it shortened.”

“Stop arguing. We need to work together, like we did on the botany report.” Jake rolls his eyes at them with a fond smile.

“We never did actually did that botany report.” Nathan hums.

“But we will.” Jake counters, “And when we do, we’re going to stay focused and work together. Charter City’s counting on us, that means it’s time to step up.”

“Alright.” Ricardo jumps up onto the balcony railing. “Let’s go.”

…………………….

Downtown Charter City was chaos with the giant rock monster smashing into buildings. Rook security was shooting plasma bullets at it to try to keep it from attacking citizens when a blue helicopter flies into its field of view. The head of security, Malcolm Kane, gets on his radio, “Mr. Rook, for your own safety I cannot recommend this course of action.”

Inside the helicopter Jonathan Rook was taking off his harness, “That monster used to be one of my best men. I have to try and help.”

The pilot pulls up alongside the monster and Rook opens the door, grabbing the radio to broadcast his voice, “Don, are you still in there? It’s me, Jonathan! You helped me build this city, don’t destroy it. Come back with us and we’ll find you a cure!”

The monster turns and faces the helicopter, roaring. “Rook… pushed me too hard. Made me into… monster! ROOK MUST PAY!”

The monster hits the helicopter and sends it off balance. Jonathan tries to hold onto the door but loses his grip, falling out without a parachute. Jake jumps off the roof, arms and legs tucked together to help with his speed. He grabs the Alpha and stretches his arm towards the cable antenna, swinging around to land on the building next to them, saving the man from falling to his death. Jonathan stares at the teen in surprised awe. Jake stumbles to his feet, running to the edge to get back into the fight, “Sorry for the rough landing, I’m new at this.”

Nathan glances at Jake saving Rook and flies to the helicopter, landing on the glass. He lifts the top off and unbuckles the pilot, pulling her out of the seat. She hangs onto his back and they fly away as the helicopter falls to the ground. Ricardo watches it coming towards the street and lets the people push past him out of harm’s way before he blows up his hands. He catches the machine with a grunt and holds it as the momentum pushes him back. When it starts pushing over his head he falls to  his back and blows up his feet, sliding to a stop and rolling out from under it.

Nathan and Jake join him on the ground after moving their people out of danger. Jake flinches as the monsters tail goes through one of the buildings, “We got to move him! If he stays in the streets he could take down the whole block.”

“I got this!” Ricardo runs forward. Jake and Nathan follow close behind. The Beta blows up both of his feet and kicks the monster in the back, sending him into the park and through the fountain. 

They split up when the monster gets up and swings his tail at them, Jake wraps his arm around a light pole, “I hope this is going to hurt you more than it hurts me.”

The monster backhands Jake into the air. Nathan flies up to get him but misses, and Ricardo jumps up and pulls him away from the monster before he’s eaten, setting the Alpha on the ground. “Nathan gets picked last at baseball, doesn’t he?”

Jake ignores him and grabs onto two light poles, walking backwards as far a he can. When he can no longer extend his arms Ricardo runs to him, plants one foot on the Alpha’s chest and is slingshotted into the monsters face, Jake and Nathan hitting it at the same time. The monster goes down in a cloud of dust.

“I think we won. Is this a win?”

“I vote yes.” Nathan nods. “That’s what you get when you mess with the Legion of Specially Gifted Individuals with Powers!”

The monster gets up with a growl and the three back away, Jake stepping forward to protect the others when he notices the second monster.

“It split in two?” Ricardo gasps. 

“We can’t let them get away!” Jake says as the two monsters run back into the streets.

“Don’t move!” The three boys turn to see Rook’s men pointing guns at them again, Kane leading them.

“Just so I can keep track; is this still a win?” Ricardo whimpers. Jake raises his hands but takes a step back, Ricardo and Nathan stepping closer together behind the Alpha.

“You’re coming with us, you little punks.” Kane growls, “No one destroys a Rook Unlimited laboratory without repercussions.”

“I’ve never even had detention,” Nathan whines, the smell of his distress overpowering the suppressants. “and now I’m gonna get chained up in a dungeon.”

“Don’t be crazy,” Ricardo hisses, trying to sooth the Omega, “no one uses dungeons anymore. Besides, I got one more trick up my leg. One, two...”

“No.” Jake reaches behind him and stops Ricardo from raising his leg further, “This whole thing’s our fault. We wanted to be superheroes. Well, superheroes don’t run from their problems.”

“Thinking about how much trouble we’re in makes me wanna pee my pants a little. But Jake’s right.” Nathan follows Jake’s lead and raises his hands.

“You two are terrible influences.” Ricardo huffs but raises his hands too.

“Take us in.” Jake calls over to Kane. 

Three men comes forward and cuff their hands behind their backs. Nathan ducks his chin to hide his glands when his guy gets closer, the smell of distressed Omega still present close to them. He yelps when the guy yanks a little to hard on him, causing both Jake and Ricardo to turn to the man and growl. Kane comes over to see what the big deal was and smells the distressed Omega pheromones, noticing which of the three was cowering and which two were growling.

Jake watches Kane push the Rook officer away and gesture for Nathan to start walking. The Omega looks to Jake before he moves, and the Alpha follows close behind with Ricardo, neither one of them waiting for their own Rook agents. Kane leads all three to one of the vehicles and takes off the cuffs, tossing a can of suppressants in at the last minute before the door closes. 

Nathan’s the first to grab it and spray the mist onto his glands, then Jake, and Ricardo last. Once the can was empty and the truck was moving they sit quietly, the dimmed lights bright enough to see easy without being blinding.

“So how far can you stretch?” Ricardo asks Jake.

“I don’t know.” The Alpha looks at his hand in consideration. 

“Wanna test it?” Nathan smiles.

“Yeah!”

Ricardo holds Jake in one corner of the van and inflates his foot, resting in against the opposite wall diagonally from them. Nathan grabs one arm and pulls it, wrapping it around Ricardo’s foot and then going back to the other two and wrapping it around the Beta. They continue this for the rest of the trip, slipping up a few times and then going again.

Kane gets out of the van once they reach Rook tower and goes to open the back door, the Delta team’s guns ready in case the boys tried to run. When the door opens though, Kane just stares in wonder. The one with black hair, the Omega, was trying to pull the blonde’s arm around the other’s foot. The boy’s arm was already wrapped up multiple times.

“Come on man!” The one holding the blonde grunts, “Try to focus the Flex stuff into your arm.”

“It’s called flexarium, remember?” The Omega huffs.

“One more guys.” The blonde pants, “I don’t know if I can stretch anymore.”

“What the hell are you doing?” Kane growls. The three boys yelp and stop what they’re doing. The one in red deflates and the Omega lets go of the blonde’s arm, causing it to rush back at the boy like a whip. He hits his knees with a hiss as the last of his arm comes back and snaps into place. The other two rush over to him, helping him stand and checking his arm without touching it. Kane watches them both shift the blonde behind them, like they were trying to protect him. He clears his throat to get their attention again, “What are you doing?”

“Checking the limits to his stretch ability.” The one in red answers, “What are you going to do with us?”

“Not important right now.” Kane steps into the van with three blindfolds. “It’s time to move.”

The Delta team puts the blindfolds on them and help them out of the van, having them sit on a cart to take them to Rook’s office as ordered. When they get there Kane dismisses the others and leads the three of them into the room. He pulls down the blinds and turns off the lights before taking off the handcuffs and blindfolds. He points at the three chairs in the middle of the room, “Sit. Mr. Rook will be here to deal with you shortly.”

It doesn’t take long before the door opens and Jonathan Rook comes in on a hoverboard. “Why’s it so dark? Show our guest a little hospitality.”

He takes a remote from his pocket and presses a button, causing the blinds to raise up. The Alpha smiles at the three boys. “Welcome to Rook tower, so glad you guys could make it.”

Jake stands up and the others follow his lead, “Uh… no problem?”

Rook gets off his hoverboard, “What you guys did out there tonight: way impressive! And thanks for the chopper save. Otherwise Rook Unlimited would be taking resumes for a new CEO right now.”

Nathan steps forward a little, drawing Rook’s gaze. He steps back behind Jake, “So you’re not gonna throw us in your dungeon?”

“Don’t be crazy, no one uses dungeons anymore.” Rook chuckles.

Ricardo punches Nathan’s shoulder gently, “See! Told you.”

“Shut up.” Nathan pushes him back, “It’s a valid question.”

“But you are arresting us, right?” Jake speaks over his friends. 

“Arrest you? I wanna hire you. How would you three like to be official superheroes of Charter City?” Kane growls from his seat and stands up.

“They not superheroes, they’re criminals.” Rook turns to face the other Alpha, “They broke into a Rook Unlimited building and trashed the place; they stole Flexarium. They should be going to prison not being given more power. They’re immature.”

“We happen to be very mature, I’ll have ya know, so thank you very much.” Nathan squeaks from behind Jake. 

“Then what do you call what you were doing in the van?”

“Experimenting.” Ricardo crosses his arms over his chest, “We wanted to see how far his stretching abilities extended and it’s kind of hard to do that in a small moving vehicle. We improvised.” 

“How far did you get?” Rook grins excited.

“Well, with the size of the van and taking into account of R-red’s body to hold him…” Nathan thinks for a second looking at his fingers, “I’d say like two maybe three miles. We had to stop and restart a few times since we were in a moving van... In the dark.”

“But there was enough light to-”

“IN THE DARK.”

“-see. Stop being such a drama queen, Green.”

“Both of you stop.” Jake pushes the two away from each other and face the two older Alphas, one watching them in amusement, the other disgust. “What now, Mr. Rook?”

“Follow me.” Rook gets back on his hoverboard and nods towards the door. The three boys follow him through the building, watching him talk to his assistant on the phone. 

“Is he serious?” Nathan whispers to his friends, “Official superheroes?”

“My dad works for Rook.” Jake reminds them, also whispering, “He’s not a guy that says things lightly.”

“We are so calling ourselves the Super Awesomes!” Ricardo grins.

“That is the worst name, seriously!” Nathan groans.

“Shh!” Jake clears his throat when Rook stops in front of a door. He deepens his voice as much as he can without adding his Alpha voice, “Your building is not what we expected.”

“When I started Rook Unlimited, I thought it had to be like all the other corporations out there; about as exciting as watching a file download.” He types in a code at the door and it opens.

Once he was far enough ahead of them, Ricardo nudges Jake, “What’s with the voice, bro?”

“I don’t want him to know we’re in high school.”

“Oh I’m sure that did the trick.” They get closer to Rook as the Alpha finishes explaining how he built Rook Unlimited.

“Very impressive.” Ricardo and Nathan both snort at Jake’s voice. 

Rook laughs, “Look, I can tell you guys are young. Don’t worry, I still want you as my superhero team.”

“Was it really that bad?” Jake looks at Nathan. The Omega just smiles and reaches up to rub the back of the Alpha’s neck. Rook raises an eyebrow but doesn’t say anything. That kind of touching was usually reserve for family, but the two didn’t look or smell related. 

The Alpha ignores it for now and opens the door; continuing the tour. He leads them into one of the test rooms and smiles when they let out shouts of surprise when the floor moves. “You guys will fit in perfectly with my existing program of Flexarium research. What happen to you three was a miracle of science. Your specific body chemistries interacted with our most cutting edge compound, Flexarium.”

The three boys follow Rook around the room while he explains his research on the compound and the different ways it could be used. When he mentions it being used as clothing though, Ricardo has to ask for more details on how it worked. Nathan and Jake hang on every word. Rook explains and shows them samples of the Flexarium they were making into Military uniforms. 

“Are you going to make us costumes?” Jake asks handing the piece of cloth back to one of the assistants. She smiles and walks away, bring back a briefcase. “Since we’re going to be your superhero team and what not?”

“Costumes are for Halloween or weird parties.” Rook shakes his head like he was trying to shake an image out of his head. Nathan snorts, shaking his head when Ricardo looks at him; Jake shakes his head with a grin before turning back to Rook, “This is cutting edge gear I designed.”

“Only goggles?” Nathan asks when the assistant opens the case, fighting back giggles. “Not that I’m complaining but it’s not exactly a costume.” 

Jake raises an eyebrow with a little rumble of warning for Nathan to not take it to far with the joke. The Alpha didn’t know how Rook or his people would react to it and he refused to put his friends in that kind of danger. Nathan gives Jake a nervous grin and takes a minute step behind him, ignoring Rook intense gaze watching their every move. Ricardo follows him behind Jake when the younger Alpha looks at him, earning a pleased sound from the Alpha’s throat. 

Rook watches the way the three boys interact and follow each others leads. The blonde in blue had to be an Alpha with the way he reminded the others to be cautious of their new surroundings with a few rumbles. The boy in red was a Beta; a new one to the group since he needed a second reminder to follow the Alpha’s look. The one in green was a little harder to pin; he was either a very submissive Beta or he was an Omega based on the way he always looked at the other two for direction and backed down when the blue Alpha said to. Maybe he was the blue one’s Omega?

“The goggles are only one peice of the gear we have for you.” Rook chuckles, “You’ll see when you try them on.”

Jake growls, pulling Ricardo and Nathan behind him and baring his teeth at the man that tried to take his mask off. “We haven’t agreed to work for you yet.”

“This is me agreeing.” Ricardo goes to take off his helmet and both Jake and Nathan push it back down before he could reveal himself. The Beta glares at them.

“If being superheroes means revealing our identities, then no go.” Jake turns to Rook, “No offense. What happens if someone we end up fighting finds out our addresses? Puts our friends and families in danger? What happens later, when we have mates and pups of our own? I’m sorry Mr. Rook but we can’t risk it.”

“Your identities will remain secret, trust me.” Rook grins. 

“Maybe we can trust you, but your company employs over half the city.” Nathan and Ricardo glance at each other, nervous, “If this is going to work, we keep our identities secret and out of corporate files.”

“Not a problem. I get it.” Rook walks over to the controls for the big monitor in the lad, “I’m not hiring who you really are- I don’t care who you really are. I’m hiring the Flex Fighters.”

He picks up the blue goggles and hands them to Jake. “These visors are your central communication hubs. You can talk to us or use a scrambled private line. All your gear is stored in these things, and best of all… the Suppressant technology in these things are some of the best in the world. You could be in the middle of Rut or Heat or even Presenting in these and no one would ever know; not even you.”

Ricardo and Nathan take their own goggles and follow Jake into the lab’s bathroom. They wait until Jake had checked for cameras, then take the cape from Nathan and hold it over the Omega’s head while he takes off the costume and put his goggles on. The green suit was tight as it covers his body and his new helmet pushes all his hair away from his face. He steps out from under the cape and grins at the others.

“Wow.” Ricardo laughs, “It’s like you’re not even there. I can’t smell you at all. My turn.”

He takes off all his football gear and ducks under the cape before taking off his helmet and putting on the goggles. Ricardo’s costume was completely different than Nathan’s and not just in color. There was more padding and the cloth was thicker. 

“Why is this so thick?” Ricardo pulls at one of the sleeves. “It’s got good airflow so I’m not like burning up or anything but I don’t understand why it’s so thick.”

“The way you stretch; your limbs inflate to massive sizes, so the more material you have in your suit, the better it will fit when you use your powers.” Nathan tells the Beta while he checks over their suits. “Okay Jake, your turn.”

The Alpha takes one more look around the room with a critical eye before ducking under the cape to change. The blue suit was plain compared to the other’s and it didn’t have a helmet, though his hair did stand up funny when he pulls the goggles on. It was thick like Ricardo’s for his powers but still felt lightweight and breathable. Jake takes their clothes and folds them up, the three boys carrying them out of the bathroom. Rook gives each of them a Rook Unlimited bag to put their stuff in before directing their attention to the screen. 

“We’ve even come up with some alternative names for you guys since I going to assume you want to keep yours underwraps as well. Stretch, Wingspan, and Omni-Mass.” Rook points at Jake, Nathan, and Ricardo as he tells them their new names. “Like the code names; PR team again. Ok, work time. Don Robertson might have been all over the place and uptight, but he’s a really good guy. That’s why I want you guys to bring him in without hurting him. We don’t know where he went though, since he disappeared after the battle in the park.”

“We’ll be ready for him.” Jake rumbles.

“While we’re waiting though, you guys have got to have the best video games in the whole city!” Ricardo grins. 

“Even better.” Rook laughs. He leads the boys door and gestures for them to enter, locking it behind them.

Nathan whimpers, moving behind Jake while Ricardo feels around the wall to find the door again. “Did Rook just play us?”

“Calm down guys.”

“Well, what do you have to say now, mister “no one uses dungeons anymore”?”

Nathan snaps at Omni. 

“Why do you-”

“Knock it off, both of you!” Stretch growls, causing both of them to shut up and shift closer to their friend. Stretch turns critical eyes on the room they were in, seeing the floor, walls and ceiling covered in panels. A large window overlooks the whole room on one of the walls and the three turn to look at Kane as he stands there, watching them from behind the glass. 

“Rook seems to think that hiring a bunch of amateurs like you kids is a good idea, but I disagree.” He snarls, “You’re weak and untrained. We used this room ta test chemical compounds, but now I see it has other uses. This is where you will be coming everyday to practice, so we can get a better understanding of your powers. Your training begins now; lets see how powerful you really are.”

Below the window three panels flip open, and three guns point at the boys. One shoots a lightweight metal ball at Wingspan, sending him sliding across the room. The Omega groans as he hits the back wall, “I hate dodgeball.”

“Really? You’re good at it though?” Omni laughs as he catches two more. 

“What are you talking about?” Wingspan grumbles as he gets to his feet. He throws the ball away and starts making his way to the others.

“In dodgeball if you catch a ball it means the person on the other team that threw it at you is out.” The Beta smacks another ball out of the way while Stretch dodges the ones coming closer to him. 

“Does that mean Kane’s out.” The Alpha grins, causing the others to laugh. He grabs one of the balls as it goes over his head and throws it back at the window, causing Kane to jump slightly.

“Strike two.” Wingspan laughs, using the wall as a springboard to get in front of Omni and knocking a ball to the ground. Flexing his wings he glides over to the open panel and closes it, landing off balanced between Stretch and Omni. The Alpha steadies him with a soothing rumble. Kane turns on a hose, spraying the green cladded Omega and sending him and Stretch falling back. Wingspan lands in Stretch’s lap with the Alpha’s arms around him, were the Alpha had tried to keep him from falling. 

“As cute as you two are, we still have more test.” Omni laughs, helping the two up.

“Not you too.” Wingspan groans.

“We’re friends Omni. I’ve told you this.” Stretch shakes his head.

“And I’m joking, so chill.” Omni huffs, crossing his arms.

“Sorry, Omni it’s just-”

“Everyone says it all the time and-”

“Let’s just get this over with.” Omni walks over to the treadmill where Kane had set up the next test. They continue the test for another hour and a half before Wingspan turns to the others, “Hey guys, going off comms. Isn’t this a school night?”

“Really Wings? Are you really worrying about that?” Omni grins.

“He’s right though.” Stretch sighs. “I hate you. How do we get out of this one?”

…………………………..

Jake gets home and takes off his new uniform just as his dad calls to see if he’s awake. He goes about his normal morning ritual while also trying out his powers to see how much control he’s got over them and the rest of the school day passes by in a blurr. Before he knew it, him and Nathan were outside doing their homework.

“On the plus side, Rook sponsored superhero team.” Jake sighs, “Down side, 45 pages behind in my chemistry reading.”

Nathan just laughs as Ricardo comes up to them. “You’re kidding right? “I’m a superhero but my homework’s late, boohoo”. Am I the only one that has their priorities straight?”

“I’m just saying, is it even possible to be a superhero and a high-school student?” Jake huffs, “Besides, fighting monsters doesn’t exactly maintain my GPA so until-”

Nathan and Ricardo both look in the direction Jake was looking in when the Alpha suddenly stops talking. 

“Whoa, Jake.” Ricardo smirks. “Maybe you do know what’s important. Who’s she?” The three boys turn to look at the girl with purple hair, skateboarding and talking with her friends.

“Oh no, here we go again.” Nathan laughs. “That’s Riya, the love of his life.”

“Dude not cool.” Jake blushes.

Nathan laughs and clutches his books to his chest, fake swooning and laying his head on Jake’s lap, “They’re going to get married after college, have 2 or 3 kids and live in a penthouse on the bay.”

“And we wonder why people call you his Omega.” Ricardo laughs. Nathan blushes and sits up, rubbing his neck embarrassed. The Beta turns and looks at the girl again, “Well done bro, she’s gorgeous. Hey Riya!”

“No!” Jake yelps, hiding behind the Beta while the girls look over at them. Ricardo turns around to see Jake hiding and Nathan laughing while acting like he was reading.

“What is the matter with you man?” The Beta asks, “She’s your girlfriend ain’t she? Or are you guys already Courting?”

“I’ve never actually spoken to her.” Jake peaks around Ricardo’s shoulder and sits back down next to Nathan when he sees that she’s no longer looking at them.

“My new friends are complete losers.” Ricardo beathes to himself. He turns to Jake and stares him down, “What kind of Alpha are you man? If you like the girl so much then go ask her out.”

“It’s not that simple.” Jake groans, leaning his head on Nathan’s shoulder. The Omega runs his fingers through the Alpha’s hair and sighs.

“Riya’s an Alpha too.” Nathan explains. Ricardo’s eyes widen in understanding.

“I thought Charter City was one of the ones that didn’t look down on Homosexuals?” Ricardo whispers, sitting down in front of the two and rubbing Jake’s knee in acceptance. The Alpha rumbles his pleasure at the Beta and sighs.

“Charter City is accepting; my dad… not so much.” Nathan whines and Ricardo rubs his knee again. The three sit there in silence until their phones ring; Rook was calling for the Flex Fighters.

“We’ll come back to this bro.” Ricardo helps them pack up and the head out, not seeing the purple haired Alpha watching them. 

……………………………………………………………

The three boys show up just as Don was ripping a hole into the maglev. Stretch uses a phone pole to spring up to the monster and grabbed his head with his hands and the roof of the train with his feet, smacking the monster with the metal in the face and causing him to fall to the street below. Stretch lands in front of the downed monster.

“Hey ugly, remember me? My name’s Stretch. Wanna guess why?” The monster swings at him and the boy dodges, using his powers to evade each hit. The others watch as he takes care of causing a distraction.

“Do you think he’ll be okay?” Wingspan asks, watching with a bated breath.

“Man you really do act like his Omega.” Omni laughs, “He’ll be fine Wings and we’re right here to help if he needs it. If we go down there right now though all we’re going to do is be in the way.” 

“Yeah, you’re right, I guess.” Wingspan bites his lip.

“How come you guys aren’t dating?” Omni asks, “You guys are close, we get along well, you’re comfortable with each other to the point of smelling like your Courting and ya know, Alpha” The Beta points at Stretch, then turns to Wingspan, “Omega.”

“We’ve just alway been friends; I’ve never thought of him as anything different and I don’t he has either.” Wingspans freezes, “Wait- What do you mean we smell like we’re Courting?!”

“Like you guys smell like each other all the time, and I don’t just mean like your scents cling to the others clothes like it does when you’ve been hanging out, but like embedded in each other’s skin. I guess it could also smell like sibling that are close but my mind jumped to Courting the first time I met you guys.” Ricardo shrugs.

“Well what’s the difference between smelling like brother and smelling like- ya know?” Wingspan clears his throat. Omni ignores the blush on the Omega’s face and thinks for a moment, realize Stretch was pinned under the monster and calling for backup. 

“Hold that thought.” Omni starts running across the roof.

“Anytime guys!” Stretch calls out.

“How about less talking and more butt-kicking?” Omni laughs. He gets a few more hits in and knocks the monster on its back, away from Stretch. “That’s what I’m talking about! Omni-Mass! Omni- Ugh!”

The monster hits him and sends him flying. Stretch catches him and they watch as Wingspan circles the monster, “Guys, let’s not forget the last time we fought this thing. I’m still sore in really weird places.”

“Just hit him.” Stretch laughs, “Are you a Flex Fighter or not Wingspan?”

“Ask me when this is over.” Omni grabs Stretch and holds him up above his head while Wingspan pushes his stomach back to wrap around a truck. Snapping forward like a slingshot, they throw the truck into the monster’s face, knocking him backwards. 

“Well now that that’s over, who’s up for a snow cone?” Omni turns to his teammates.

“Are you paying? Cause I don’t have pockets in this outfit.” Wingspan pulls on the suit where pockets would have been if he’d been wearing jeans. The three boy’s gasp when the monster gets back up.

“We might have bigger concerns guys.” Stretch rumbles. The Alpha notice the train was falling off the railing and uses Omni-Mass to swing over just as a woman falls out, catching her and lowering her to the ground as carefully as he can. He swings up and wraps his arms around the train and his legs around two light poles, creating a slide to allow the other people off the train. Omni and Wings distracted the monster until everyone was on the ground and running away from the fight. 

The monster runs towards the train system and the others follow after making sure the falling train was safe on the ground.

The monster splits into two and starts smashing column and screens with Jonathan Rook’s face. “Rook builds! Rook proud! I destroy! This city will fall.”

“He’s throwing a temper tantrum because of Rook?” Ricardo huffs.

“We can’t let him get out of the station.” Stretch looks around for anything they can use to contain him, “There are a lot of people out there that can get hurt if we’re not careful.”

With each hit the monster divide into smaller and smaller creatures. Overwhelmed, the Flex Fighters hang from the rafters and try to think of a way out. Stretch growls, scaring one of the monsters away, its blue eyes wide as it trips over a green eyed monster. The Alpha freezes; two different eye colors. He turns to his teammates. “Guys, the first Multi-Furious, the big one. What color eyes did he have?”

“Green, I thought.” Wingspan scans the surrounding monsters, “Wait now they’re all blue!”

“Not all of them. We have to find the one with green eyes.” Stretch looks around for the one with the green eye, “The Multi-Furious Prime, if we take him down the others should fall too.”

“There!” Omni shoves one of the monsters away and all three go after it. Stretch gets in front of it and sends it to Wingspan, who throws it to Omni, who hits it out of the station. When the three get out of the station, they find the building surrounded by Rook’s men and Kane holding the green eyed monster under his foot. They wave at the people outside the Rook barrier and Stretch recognises them as the people they freed from the train.

“I could get use to this.” Omni waves at a little girl causing her to blush and hides behind her mom’s leg, waving slightly and giggling.

“That’s adorable.” Wingspan smiles. “But we better head home, we’ve been gone all day.”

...............................................

The three teens leave Kane and the Delta force to pick up all the pieces of Multi-Furious and head home. Jake get home to his dad staring at the TV glaring and growling.

“Dad you ok?”

“Jake, do you have something you want to tell me?” The younger Alpha looks over his dad’s shoulder to see him and the Flex Fighters on the TV and gulps. He’d hoped that he would have had more time. Just as he was about to come clean his dad scowls, “I called your cello teacher and he told me that you didn’t show up for practice. You know better than to skip out on your commitments son, it’s unbecoming. How do you ever hope to get a Mate or a reliable job if you can’t remember to keep your promises?”

“I’m sorry dad, my botany assignment went long.”

“That’s just an excuse.” His dad scowls again, “You have responsibilities, Jake. You need to be more reliable.”

“I’m sorry I could keep up with the schedule, but I have a lot on my plate dad.” Jake tries to reason.

“If you can’t maximize your time, than I’ll make it easier. You’re grounded.” His dad huffs, turning away to watch the rest of the news. Jake took his dismissal for what it was and leaves, tiptoeing back into the room to fetch the FF goggles from where they had fallen out of his bag.

“I wonder what’s gotten into him.” He hears his dad say. He looks over the couch, seeing his dad talking to his mother’s photo. “I wonder if its that male Omega he hangs out with. I should have put a stop to that when they were younger but you were so admit he be able to love anyone. That boy is no good for him if he’s forgetting his commitments. If he keeps it up… I don’t think he’ll ever speak to me again.”

Jake leaves the room before his dad could hear the snarl that was trying to rip its way out of his throat. There was no way he was going to let his father stop him from seeing his best friend.


	3. Ninjas Are (Not) The Bomb

The next few weeks were busy with school, training, and Jake trying to keep to his father’s schedule. Rook was hosting a huge party at one of the research facilities that he had decided to open to the public. There were News stations covering the event and as Rook introduced the Flex Fighters to Charter City with a stunt performance playing to their strengths, Stretch notices something strange. He swings over to the next building, Omni and Wings following him as he lands.

“We didn’t rehearse this part. Stretch, what’s up?” Omni asks.

Stretch slides across the roof, blocking the person in the black and blue suit. “Not so fast, let’s see your invitation.”

The ninja pulls out a sword and swings it at the Alpha’s head. Stretch calls out to his teammates, “Guys watch out! The blade is Flexarium.”

“How did they get that?!” Wingspan gasps. The three boys circle the ninja. Omni makes the first move, swinging at the other. The ninja dodges and tries to leap off the roof, Stretch catching them at the last minute and pulling them back up. The two of them crash through the window of a nearby window and split apart, Omni and Wingspan coming to a stop to help Stretch back to his feet. When they go to grab the other guy they find him gone and a bomb in his place. The three flee the building, Wingspan flying up and throwing it as high as he can. It explodes above the crowd, making them cheer louder.

“Sure just give the FUCKING BOMB to the guy that failed baseball in gym.” Wingspan snaps as he lands. He looks over the roof in surprise. “They just think it was all part of the show.”

“Just smile.” Omni says, forcing a smile and wave, “If they knew it was an actually attack then everyone would start to panic. Keep them calm until we talk to Rook, right Stretch?”

“It’s the best plan we got right now so yeah.” The three just smile and wave, finishing their performance and waiting until they could talk to their boss. They end up having to wait until after the party before they are able to talk with Kane and Rook.

“We named him Blind-strike cause we never see him coming.” Rook says as they watch the security tapes. “He’s been stealing from top-secret labs.”

“Is that where he got the Flexarium?” Wingspan asks. 

“But why the bomb?” Stretch rumbles, “If all they wanted was to steal something why would they risk blowing it up?”

“People will do anything to escape once backed into a corner.” Kane replies. “This is a list of all the places he’s hit; no pattern, no way to track him.”

“Well we could-” Stretch’s alarm on his mask goes off, cutting off whatever Omni was going to say.

“Sorry.” The boy turns it off. “We have to leave. We good here?” 

The three teens turn around and start walking to the door. Kane stands up roaring, “Where are you going?!”

“We’ll be late for dinner!” Stretch growls back. Rook places a hand on Kane’s shoulder, holding him back from going after the three boys, his mind churning over what had happened that night.

…………………………………………………….

The next day Jake and Nathan were stunned when they got to school and saw a majority of the students wearing Flex Fighter merchandise. They head to their lockers where Ricardo was waiting for them while listening to everyone talking about which of the Flex Fighters were the best.

“Why is it that no one seems to like Wingspan?” Nathan whines as they pass a football player that was trying to get his hair to stand up like Stretch’s. “He’s likable and funny right?”

“Wingspan is on fleek!” A group of cheerleaders passes them with Wingspan sweaters. Nathan gives them a high five which causes them to giggle. “Thank you! See Jake?! I told you Wings is the best.”

“Ya ya. Come on Romeo.” The Alpha chuckles, grabbing Nathan’s arm.

“Huh?” Nathan looks back at the cheerleaders. They were all giggling about how cute he was and how nice it was of his Alpha to-- “OH COME ON!”

“Well them stop looking so cute together.” Ricardo laughs as he comes up behind them, throwing an arm around the Omega’s shoulders. “Better watch out Jake or someone might come in and snatch him up.”

Jake just laughs, “Well if Nathan finds someone willing to take him.”

The three boys laugh, and the Omega throws an arm around the Beta, “What if I decide to take Ricardo for a Mate, or even another Beta? Will the chosen Alpha of AFL fight for me?”

“Do I have to?” Jake grins.

“You wound me Jake, that hurt.” Nathan groans, falling forward into the Alpha’s arms, “I thought we were friends?”

“Best friends.” Jake rumbles, nuzzling the Omega’s hair before setting him back on his feet. Nathan purrs before opening his own locker. Jake pulls out his phone and makes sure no one was paying attention before turning to his teammates, “I was looking at the buildings Blind-strike has been hitting, looking for a pattern. The only thing I could come up with is that all the facilities he hit were originally designed by Dr. C.”

“Who’s Dr. C.?” Ricardo asks, “Ya’ll talk about her as if I know her. I’m new remember?”

“She was the co-founder of Rook Unlimited with Jonathan, but she died a couple of years ago.” Nathan says.

“Went missing technically, but no one found her or her body. Everyone says she’s dead.” Jake clarifies. “Even so Blind-strike’s obsession with her is weird. I can’t find out what he wants.”

“Aw look!” Another voice calls out. Jake puts his phone away and rumbles in warning, Nathan taking a step behind the Alpha. “The runt of the Park Pack litter. How are tryouts going? Oh wait you washed out, didn’t you runt? I knew they’d never let some Omegan bitch on the team.”

“And look!” The second Beta sneers, “The runt can’t even handle his own problems; gotta hide behind your Alpha huh?”

The two Betas push past Jake, one of them going to give Ricardo a fist bump. The Beta knew these two from a class and had tried to make friends but after that…

Ricardo grabs the fist and slams the Beta into the locker, lifting him off his feet. Jake steps in front of the other Beta when they try to pull Ricardo off, the Alpha’s eyes flashing black with a rumble. Ricardo keeps his attention on the Beta in his hands, “You got a problem with Nathan? With Omegas?”

“Nah man!” The Beta shows his neck, “I didn’t realize he was your friend.”

“So it’s ok to talk down to an Omega when they’re not my friend? When they’re not a part of my Pack?”

The other Beta realizes his mistake and starts apologizing to Nathan. Ricardo waits for the Omega to nod before releasing the boy, shoving him into his friend, making sure to stand in front of Nathan to keep him from their sight. Once the two were gone, Nathan smiles at the Beta, “Thanks for that. So… Since when are we Packmates?”

“Since I decided to Court you.” Ricardo ruffles the Omegas hair, causing him to laugh.

“Oh really? Jake it looks like you have competition!” The Alpha just laughs, throwing his arms around the Beta and Omega in a three way hug. 

“I told you man, it’s the eyes.” The Omega rolls said eyes when Ricardo agrees. “I’m going to head to the library to look up more on Dr. C. I’ll see you later, don’t elope without me!” 

Jake runs off laughing as he hears the two behind him hurl insults at his back. He spends his free period going over the buildings Blind-strike had hit; all of them being ones that Dr. C helped build, including the school. Upon finding a secret room in the basement that was labeled as Dr. C office, Jake heads down with the map after shooting Ricardo and Nathan a group text.

The room was covered in bookshelves and stacks of textbooks, with a desk, some recliners and a coffee table in the center of the room. A large chalkboard took up one wall that was filled with half erased math equations. On the table were more building plans, and as Jake was going to grab them the sound of a door opening and closing had him dashing to the other side of the room and out the door after the figure. He follows them all the way upstairs and out the side door for the school and around to the front, where he lost them in the crowd of students getting ready to board the buses. 

“Dr. C?” He immediately texts Nathan and Ricardo; asking them to take over a new student tour while he tails the cloaked figure, catching sight of them a couple of blocks away. Keeping in contact with Nathan he follows them as best he can, smacking into a couple of build-boards along the way. He stops once they hit the train and lands on the roof. Seeing Dr. C through the glass roof, he flinches when he notices her watching him. 

“Hey Dr. C.” He waves with a grimace.

“You’re tailing skills are pathetic and leave a lot to be desired.” She raises an eyebrow, “I had to fight to keep from laughing since I left the school grounds.”

“Harsh.” Stretch notes. A banging from behind makes him turn around, seeing Blind-strike, he gasps. “Wait, you two know each other?” 

Dr. C was gone and Stretch was alone. Blindstrike pulls out twin Flexarium blades and charges. The boy dodges and starts trying to reach Nathan or Ricardo for backup. The train takes a sharp turn and Blindstrike uses that moment to push Stretch from the roof. The boy grabs onto the edge and swings inside the train, pushing passed the people standing in the middle and back out, Blind-strike right behind him. The ninja throws a spear at Stretch which he dodges with a yelp, causing it to pass him and get stuck in the tracks in front of the train. When it hits the spear, the train jerks to the side and starts speeding up, throwing the two on the roof back a car. 

“I don’t think you have a ticket, please leave through the nearest exit!” Wingspan drops Omni-mass on top of the ninja, causing them to go over the side of the roof.

“We need to stop the train, if this speeds up anymore we’re going to derail!” Stretch yells out to Wingspan as he circles around.   
“Got it!” The flyer turns towards the back of the train while Omni-mass goes to the front, “One human break going up!”

Wingspan grabs the back of the train and expands as much as he can, making an airbag from his wings. Omni-mass jumps down on the tracks far from the train and inflates his hands and feet, catching the train and digging his heels into the ground to try and help slow it down. Stretch grabs one of Blind-strikes knives and opens the hatch for the cockpit, moving the unconscious driver out of the way and stabbing the speed controls. When the train comes to a stop Stretch helps the drive up and walks him back to the cars with the other passengers.

“Guys, Dr. C gone.” Stretch tells the others through the comms. The three of them end up on the roof of a nearby building when Stretch’s dad calls him. Wings and Omni watch their friend pace back and forth while he talks with the older Alpha.

“Does this mean Dr. C and Blind-strike are our archenemies now?” Wings ask the red Flex Fighter.

“Totally.” The bigger boy grins, “All superheroes should have archenemies.”

They share a fistbump while Stretch sighs, “Structure, I know dad. But I told Nathan I’d help him with differential equations. If I don’t he’ll fail math.”

“Jake I know he’s your friend but the Omega needs to learn to take care of situations himself.” The two could hear Jake’s father talking, like a whisper over the comms from where they were standing, “If you keep doing stuff for him, he’ll never be able to detach from you and he’ll start expecting other things from you as well; things you know YOU can’t give him. Omegas are clingy by nature Jake and if you start nurturing that behaviour too then-”

“Dad.” Wingspan flinches at the growl Stretch lets out, Omni practically seeing the blue Flex Fighter vibrating from the rumbles in his chest. Jake’s father goes silent over the comms in response to the obvious warning. “Fine. But you will be going to ALL of your extracurriculars tomorrow. I’ll see you at home.”

Jake’s father hangs up before his son can say anything, so Omni and Wingspan were left trying to figure out how to calm Stretch down. The boy in blue was panting in anger through his nose, fist clenching and unclenching. He stretches his arm to the other side of the roof and grabs a metal rod that was laying there and brings it back to him, swinging it with as much force as he can into the metal railing of the build-board next to him. Omni swallows as the Alpha swings multiple times, one hand on Wingspan’s shoulder to hold him there. When Stretch pauses for a second to catch his breath, Omni swears under his breath at seeing the dented metal on the build-board and the metal rod in his hands that was now bent in a U at the top. 

Wingspan pulls away from Omni and steps in front of the pole Stretch was taking his anger out on just as the Alpha goes to swing again. The metal rod stops just short of the Omega’s shoulder. He pulls his helmet off and wraps his arms around Jake, pulling the Alpha into his scent glands to calm Jake down. The Alpha drops the rod and wraps his arms around Nathan, breathing deep with shuddering breath. Ricardo pulls his helmet off too and pulls both of them into his chest.

“I’m sorry Nate.” Jake pulls back, scenting the Omega’s hair and squeezing the Beta’s shoulder, “About what he… about scaring you guys too.”

“I’ve known you dad for years Jake, I know how he feels about male Omegas.” Nathan shrugs, “I know how he feels about our friendship too. What he says doesn’t hurt anymore cause I know it’s just standard Traditional Alpha bullshit.”

“You shouldn’t be used to that though.” Jake sighs, “And I don’t like hearing that crap come out of his mouth; especially about my best friend.”

“Gay.” They both look at Ricardo, who just shrugs. “Just trying to lighten the mood. But I didn’t know you were Traditional.”

“I’m not.” Jake snarls. 

The Beta just raises his hands in surrender. “Ok sorry. But Jake is right Nathan, you shouldn’t be used to that.”

The Omega shrugs and puts his helmet back on, the other two adjusting their costumes too. “So were you serious about helping cause I will fail math without it. And my homework will be a lot easier than trying to find Dr. C and Blind-strike.”

“Yes, I do still intend to help you with it, but finding them won’t be hard.” Stretch smiles, holding up his phone. “Guess who planted a tracker on Blind-strike on the train earlier.” 

They high-five and take off towards where the tracker indicated the ninja was. They end up in Old-town factories by the train-tracks. Sneaking in through the vents, they find high tech computers and weapon moldings for Blind-strike’s Flexarium blades. Seeing the ninja down on the ground they try to sneak up on them; Omni going in for a hit only to have the suit fall apart on him. 

“Fools.” The machines start to power up and move, and the three Flex Fighters dodge as the arms to the assembly line attack them. “These machines are Flexarium reinforced. No matter what you inflict on them, they will hold.”

The belt starts moving and one of the machines pins Omni to it with a giant staple. Stretch and Wingspan try to get to him while dodging the saw blades, blowtorch, and the stapler.  

Dr. C continues to comment as they fight, “Omi-mass will be the first for our experiment. Can we pull the Flexarium from your bodies, removing your powers? No longer tools of Rook, and able to return to your normal lives.”

“I don’t think so!” Stretch cuts the arm with the blowtorch in half, rendering it useless. Adjusting the arm-band from Blind-strike’s decoy suit he aims for another one. “Flexarium on Flexarium-enhanced metal!”

Wingspan gets to Omni-mass and helps him pull the staple out of the belt just to be knocked aside with another arm, the red Flex Fighter struggling to get up and ending up in a sealed container. Wingspan flies over and helps the Beta where he was struggling to get the doors open. Blind-strike jumps down with twin blades once Stretch had destroyed most of the machines. The two fight while Stretch dodges the best he can from the more skilled fighter. The blue Flex Fighter dodges a blade that ends up cutting through one of the venting systems for the machine, causing it to overheat. 

“This place is going to explode!” Omni hits the glass again, locking eyes with Wingspan. “Get out! NOW!”

“I’m not leaving you!” The green Flex Fighter yanks on the door again at the same time Omni hits it, causing the glass to shatter. He grabs the Beta just as the building explodes. The blast sends Stretch out of one of the windows and he lands on the roof of the building next door. 

“Omni-mass! Wingspan! Guys?!” Stretch watches the building for any sign of his friends. “GUYS?!”

Ready to jump back into the burning building, he relaxes somewhat when he sees Omni-mass on Wingspan’s back, flying towards him. He waits for them to land before taking off his helmet and Nathan’s and scenting pulling him into his neck, covering the Omega completely in the Alpha’s pleased scent. Nathan holds onto Jake and sniffs, trying to calm his breathing. Once the Omega was completely covered Jake turns to Ricardo and wipes the tear from his cheek, pulling him down into his neck to hide his own and scenting the Beta just as thoroughly. He pulls Nathan into their huddle and the three of them stand in the rain, watching the building burn.

“We’re just kids.” Nathan whispers. “Why would…?”

“We wanted to act like adults and be superheroes.” Jake rumbles to calm the others, “This is what happens to heroes.”

They stay there until they felt calm enough to leave the huddle, not worrying about what had happened to the woman that had tried to kill them, along with her ninja companion. Not wanting to be away from each other at the moment, they head back to Jake’s apartment to do homework and help Nathan with his math, stopping at a store for some quick fix foods to keep them going. Jake sends his dad a text telling him that he was going to have them over to study and puts his phone on vibrate and they stay held up in the Alpha’s room until Nathan’s grandpa texts him to come home. They all hesitate, not wanting to leave the safety of each other’s sight. 

“I asked gramps if Ricardo could come over to help with homework, so I’m just waiting for confirmation on that. That way he doesn’t have to go home since your parents aren’t going to be home tonight. We can video chat with Jake until we get home…”

“Or until we fall asleep.” Ricardo rubs his arm. “I just- I don’t really want to leave you guys, ya know? Will your parents let me sleep over?” 

“Yeah, no problem.”

“Ok.” Jake nods. “Go ahead and get your phone out and we can set up a three way video chat on my computer. I don’t think I’m going to be leaving my room for the rest of the night.”

They have the chat set up by the time Nathan’s grandfather texts him back and the two head out. Jake stays on his computer while finishing up his homework, watching as Ricardo and Nathan get on the train and get inside the Park Pack’s house. They stay on the phone together until after midnight, Jake smiling when he sees Ricardo helping Nathan’s sister practice for a school spelling bee while also holding a conversation with one of his brothers about a football game, while also helping Jake and Nathan with their homework as well as his own. The Beta was beyond knowledgeable and would make someone a great Mate if he was ever serious enough to settle down. 

The three of them were still on the chat when Nathan’s family went to bed, his mother handing both Ricardo and Nathan blankets to sleep on the couches while Jake switches to his phone in bed. They were still on the chat when Ricardo and Nathan fell asleep talking about a movie series about zombies; Jake watching over his Packmates half asleep. And in the morning when Jake’s dad woke him up to get ready for school, over the chat, Ricardo and Nathan woke up too to get first in line for hot showers. 


End file.
